All wood included in the Materials Petal Scope (see above) requires FSC Chain of Custody (COC) or documentation that the wood is salvaged, intentionally harvested on-site or low risk. This includes permanently installed wood blocking, framing, structural wood members, finished wood products, and systems furniture. Wood or wood-containing materials that are used only temporarily are not within scope and do not require documentation. This includes temporary blocking, such as spacers, and formwork.
Wood deemed to be compliant with the Responsible Sourcing Exceptions of this Imperative count towards the percentage that is required to be FSC-certified, salvaged, or intentionally harvested on-site.
CHAIN OF CUSTODY CERTIFICATION
FSC Chain of Custody (COC) certification verifies that FSC-certified material has been identified and accounted for as it makes its way along the supply chain, from the forest to the construction site. To achieve COC certification, a business must meet the FSC-STD-40-004 Chain of Custody Certification standard. All sizes and organizational structures are eligible for COC certification, including single-site, multi-site, and groups of organizations. An FSC Chain of Custody (COC) certification is required for every entity that processes or trades FSC-certified material before it is shipped to the construction site. However, for the purpose of LBC compliance, an FSC-certified product packaged for resale in packaging that is clearly labeled and unopened, is an exception, and the retailer is not required to have FSC COC certification.
Types of FSC Claims and How to Use Them
There are four basic FSC claims for timber and wood fiber.
- FSC 100% identifies products that are made of 100% virgin material from FSC-certified forests. The wood in the product has not been mixed with material of another material category at any point in the supply chain. Materials and products with this claim count 100% towards the required percentage of compliant wood in Imperative calculations.
- FSC Mix means the wood within the product is from FSC-certified forests, recycled material, and/or controlled wood. There are two kinds of FSC Mix claims – FSC Mixed Credit and FSC Mix XX%.
- FSC Mixed Credit claims ensure that an equivalent amount of either FSC 100% or post-consumer recycled wood content is in the product or market. Material with this claim counts 100% towards the required percentage of compliant wood in Imperative calculations.
- FSC Mixed XX% claim is supplied with a percentage claim based on the volume of wood in the product that is FSC 100% or post-consumer recycled content. The minimum percentage of FSC 100% or post-consumer recycled content required to carry this FSC on-product label is 70%. The remaining percentage of the wood is either FSC controlled wood or pre-consumer recycled content.
Project teams may count 100% of the percentage of the wood that is FSC 100% or post-consumer recycled content towards the required percentage of compliant wood in Imperative calculations. The remaining percentage (that is either controlled wood or pre-consumer recycled content) counts toward the low risk wood requirements. For example, a product with an FSC Mix 77% claim is counted at 77%, meaning 77% of the cost of the product contributes as FSC compliant wood in the calculations. The remaining 23% contributes to the Imperative’s low risk wood requirements.
- FSC Recycled means all the wood or wood fiber in the product comes from reclaimed or re-used material. As with the FSC Mix label there are two kinds of FSC Recycled Labels – FSC Recycled Credit and FSC Recycled XX%.
- An FSC Recycled Credit claim ensures that an equivalent amount of post-consumer recycled wood content is in the product or market.
These labels count 100% as salvaged wood for purposes of this Imperative. - FSC Recycled XX% is supplied with a percentage claim based on the volume of wood in the product that is post-consumer recycled content. The minimum percentage of post-consumer recycled content required to carry this FSC on-product label is 70%. The remaining percentage of the wood is pre-consumer recycled content. Project teams may count the percentage of the wood that is post-consumer recycled content as salvaged. The remaining percentage (that is pre-consumer recycled content) can count as low risk wood for the purposes of LBC Imperatives.
- An FSC Recycled Credit claim ensures that an equivalent amount of post-consumer recycled wood content is in the product or market.
- The FSC Controlled Wood claim applies only in the context of FSC Project Certification or acceptable inputs under the FSC Mixed claim. It is risk assessed as being virgin wood from known, legal sources with no outstanding social conflicts, no GMOs, no clearance of natural forest for plantations, and no uncertified high conservation value areas. This may include virgin timber certified under other systems, but this is not automatic.
FSC Controlled Wood is not available as a stand alone certified product on the retail market, but as indicated above, the percentage contributing to an FSC Mixed % can count as low risk wood for purposes of Imperative 12, Responsible Sourcing and Imperative 14, Responsible Industry. It is not necessary for teams to determine whether the non-assigned percentage of an FSC Mixed % source is FSC Controlled Wood or post-consumer recycled content.
DOWN AND DEAD TREES
Down and dead trees are not considered salvaged. Use of small quantities of down and dead trees from the owner’s property or adjacent property may be acceptable on a case-by-case basis.
EXISTING BUILDINGS
Wood materials left in situ in renovation projects do not need to be FSC-Certified and are not factored into the FSC percentage calculations. In situ materials may be tracked in I15 Living Economy Sourcing as local products or I16 Net Positive Waste as salvaged products.
LOW RISK WOOD
Wood from a source country that has sufficient laws, policies and practices in place to provide some protection against corrupt and/or damaging wood harvesting practices is generally considered “low risk.” For Living Building Challenge projects, low risk is defined as a source country with a score in the Risk Profile for timber on the Preferred by Nature Sourcing Hub (Sourcing Hub) that meets all of the following criteria:
- a score of 80 or higher;
- laws and a low rating for both the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and Protected Sites and Species Sub-categories; and
- laws in at least 13 additional Sub-categories, including one law in each of the five Legal Categories.
The laws assessed can be found by filling in the commodity and country of harvest fields in the Sourcing Hub and downloading the Timber Legality Risk Assessment. Each Risk Assessment contains a summary table of the findings, which identifies the Legal Categories and Sub-categories assessed. An entry of N/A on the table means that the country does not have laws related to the Sub-category.
Table 12-2 List of Countries that meet ILFI’s Low Risk Wood Definition
(current as of April 2024)
ON-SITE HARVEST
On-site harvest of timber and its use in the project is allowed if the project team can show that the tree removal was required for construction or as part of a reforestation/restoration program. The team must also document that the harvest was minimally invasive.
SALVAGED WOOD
Salvaged wood does not need to be FSC-certified, but does need to be documented as salvaged.
WOOD-CONTAINING PRODUCTS
For purposes of FSC requirements under Imperative I12 Responsible Materials (C6) and I14 Responsible Sourcing, bamboo is considered a wood-containing product but cork is not. Any product that contains a component consisting of non-cork wood fibers, such as wood fiberboard, is considered a wood-containing product and must be tracked under the FSC requirement.
The wood portion of wood-containing products installed in the project must be included in the wood compliance calculations. Wood-containing products that are not installed in the project, including those purchased for the project, but not ultimately used in the project (i.e. because they are temporary, such as formwork) must be included in construction waste / diversion calculations, but do not need to be included in wood compliance calculations.
